Year 11 2023-24

[Maxus]

Anyone else got kids starting year 11 in September?

@wonderstuff what a shock for you all, I'm so sorry. Definitely let the children have time if you feel they need it.

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz @Midnightstar76 and @AmyandPhilipfan the fact that your DCs are continuing to make their best efforts despite the struggles they face is fantastic. I am glad to hear that there are good options for them next year which are not dependant on getting 4s and 5s at GCSE when so much pressure is put on our young people that your grades are the be all and end all.

Thanks @JustHereWithMyPopcorn . There certainly is hope and life is all one lifelong learning experience. Who knows where her path will lead. To be honest we are focusing a lot on her mental health as well during exam season and she has been doing lots of exercise and shock horror walking the dog which she never ever does. Proud of her to say the least.

@Midnightstar76 rightly so. x

Lots of love to you all @wonderstuff . That's awful at anytime but your poor niece 😢

@wonderstuff sending you all hugs. your poor neice to have this happen so suddenly.
DS came home unhappy today got his English paper to go through in class and the teacher had added up the marks wrong was a G5 not a G7 she had incorrectly added up wrong by 10 marks he pointed it out to her. When asked about the marks as surprised he had so few for that section all she could say was stay on topic he was confused as thought he had. Never did hear back from the school when I emailed them.

@Tebheag you know where I am if you need me

Thank you.

We have just received an email that my child has been rejected from his (first choice) sixth form college. He had an interview in February. i have to say the interviewer was not nice and she didnt put him at ease (and it never had an interview before). I want to email and ask for feedback. Can anyone suggest what to write? I want to ask them why they arrived to this decision and if we can appeal. We are so gutted.

@Thesunisshining888 is this private or state? Is he expected to get the required entrance grades?

With the 6th form colleges round here, people don't tend to get rejected, though they may be offered courses with lower entry requirements.

There are rules on academic testing in interviews too for state.

It's a state sixth form

Sorry to hear that @Thesunisshining888 . Did the decision letter include any reasons? What does the college’s website say about admissions criteria?

Assuming the entrance criteria are realistic I think it would be absolutely reasonable to ask for feedback @Thesunisshining888 as presumably thaws were known ahead of the interview. Therefore surely they would have to justify based on evidence from the interview?

Even that seems a bit shit to reject based on it as like you say they have probably never experienced an interview before and they will be incredibly nervous?

Thats so sad and frustrating @Thesunisshining888 . I hope your DS is ok. Their loss! Onwards and upwards!

I didn't think state schools/colleges could reject an applicant on the basis of interview. This does sound strange @Thesunisshining888 and I would certainly ask for feedback.

DS had one interview where they said that he wouldn't be able to do the A levels he had requested as they couldn't fit them into the timetable. So they talked it through and offered him a different option. Could it be that your son's choice wasn't possible for them to accommodate or something like that? A blank rejection seems very odd. I hope you can get some feedback and that your son isn't too disheartened by the news.

It may be that they were so oversubscribed they had to apply an admission criteria eg distance? This happened to my son at one of his back up choices 100 spaces for 1100 applicants! So those who live closest offered a space. No interview process though.Or maybe there is for those who get offered a place, not sure.

Dd went back to school on Friday, they really looked out for her and her group of friends, they let them do tutor together, sit their mock together in a separate classroom, let dd skip a class she didn’t feel up to and sit in her tutor base instead. They have INSET tomorrow, she needs to practice her food tech NEA which is on Wed (actual gcse assessment), my mum is going to come over, we haven’t even bought ingredients 😔.

DN is going back in on Tuesday. The world just doesn’t stop spinning. Thankfully they’re both on track to get into college comfortably and interviews were last week, so they both have a confirmed conditional offer. At least it’s one less thing to worry about. We are lucky in Hampshire that sixth forms are really good but not competitive to get into.

@wonderstuff Well done to DD and DN. I agree it is a good thing about our Hants system, non of these stupidly high requirements, just sensible requirements of will they / won't they cope with courses.

Dd has unexpectedly been approved for laptop in exams. Can i ask how this works as shes done all mocks with pen and paper? Will she have to save?

Until very recently I've invigilated so may be able to answer ...

We generally try and seat laptop candidates on the edges of the room so they are close to a socket (laptop is always fully charged but just in case).

They will always have all papers and additional materials in paper provided too and they don't have to use the laptop but can't chop and change in an exam IYSWIM

Laptop won't be provided for maths or science papers due to need to complete graphs or tables etc

Paper will auto save throughout and Once exam is over we ask candidate to save (with help if needed) then they are escorted to exams officer where paper is printed off, signed by candidates and put in secure storage. Laptop is handed in and wiped ready for next exam as candidates have same machine throughout

@dinomirror Ds is a typist. In his school they’re in a separate room so the noise doesn’t disturb other students.

He uses it for everything except Maths and French - if he has a written explanation for a science question, he does it in a separate document and prints it off at the end.

School should give her a tutorial on whatever program they use, one thing to watch out for is formatting esp with English - if paragraphs don’t print, she’ll lose marks.

It’s made a massive difference for ds, good luck to her!

Typed scripts really ought to be double spaced. Lots of people don't know how to do that.

Just come across this thread - dd is my eldest and in year 11. I’m trying to hide it but I’m more stressed than she is! She’s finished her final mocks today and has her sixth form interview tomorrow for her first choice. She’s already got a place at her second choice (which is a strong option) so she can go in feeling confident and see what happens.

prom dress and shoes are bought, just needs the length altered. Honestly though, I’m wishing the year away to July! She’s working so hard and I am just hoping her results reflect that - last set of mocks were not quite there sadly.

Hope the interview goes well @TeenLifeMum and that your daughter's mock results show the progress I'm sure she's made since the last set

I was getting worried about DS not having had a response from one the schools he'd applied to for sixth form so bit the bullet and emailed them yesterday. They hadn't had his application. thorough. DS had applied using their online form. Luckily they have said they will arrange an interview for him. So pleased I emailed now as this school is one of his top choices.

@Waspie thank goodness you emailed! It’s hard because you want to step back and not be “that parent” but sometimes it’s needed and your situation has just proved that.

Dd got on really well and the last question was “what will you bring to our school?” But the teacher said “nope, you don’t need to answer that. We’d clearly be lucky to have you!” So I think she’ll get a place. Just needs the grades now - mock results come next week.

Feeling a tad all over the place today. Mock results in and really pleased with the progress. Got 6/7 in science which was a massive improvement however also got back the btech sport which was a sad shock. He got all merits in his units except the year 10 one which turned out to be worth 40% so got only a pass overall. So a grade 4 ish compared to gcse. I was cross at the school for not alerting us back in year 10 and getting DS to improve the unit, annoyed but then delighted at DS for saying that he knows he didn’t work hard enough in year 10 but is now working his socks off…..hence the much improved gcse grades…..
So now the dilemma. Do we just take the grade and focus on his GCSEs or resit the exam part in the hope of gaining 4 more marks to push it over to a merit? I’m just not sure it’s worth the time??

School said he could do the level 3 as 1 Alevel at 6th form in September and he’d be fine to get a merit plus in their opinion of how he works in year 11, but did say last year he just didn’t apply himself. So he can do the course, but it’s wobbled me. Gcse and A level seem more straightforward?? He’s planning on A level politics and either a science if he gets a 7, or Btech science if not - he thinks the applied science looks more fun but again the coursework worries me!!! I don’t want a repeat of the gcse issue.